[Politics] It isn't easy being Blue.

[davywavy]

Whilst out on the town a few weeks ago, I got talking to a girl in a bar. After a while, for reasons I can't recall, the conversation came round to politics. Suddenly she stopped short and looked at me quizzically.
"You're right-wing, aren't you?"
"Yup", I replied.
"Well, I don't think we should let homeless people starve to death on the street", she said, smugly ensuring her moral superiority over me and my homeless-starving ways whilst necking the booze I'd just bought her like there was no tomorrow.

A friend of mine who shares my political opinions once told me they didn't really like going to social events with many of my friends, because they knew that they would be belittled and insulted for holding their political beliefs. They found it upsetting that they would be insulted by people they barely knew not even for their beliefs, but for what those people considered their beliefs to be without even taking the time to find out the reality of the situation. In other circumstances this sort of behaviour would be considered 'prejudice'. When you're dealing with a lot of people I run into, it's called 'informed debate'. Sometimes it's nice to open LJ and read the wise words of the mind-numbingly gorgeous vulgarcriminal, who is political voice of reason.
The irony of the intellectual intolerance of many people amuses me in a bleak sort of way; most of the people on my friends list consider themselves to be tolerant, understanding and non-judgemental; however this just highlights the basic dichotomy of many people's political views - they're tolerant of any kink, perversion, social attitudes and outre behaviour which they happen to agree with. Their tolerance doesn't extend so far as being polite to people who think that, oh, say, civil liberties have been undermined quite a lot by the current government or that spending thirty-seven billion quid which we don't have every year in a slowing economy might lead to trouble later.
raggedhalo recently made a post in which he compared prejudice against vegetarians to homophobia, and presented himself as being a persecuted minority. Personally I think it's a bit difficult to be a persecuted minority when you're a socialist vegetarian in a student union, but that's just me.
Re-reading his post, it's interesting to me just how much of his argument I can apply to my own point. After all, if he can compare prejudice against sexualities with his own political views, so can I - to object to that would be prejudiced, wouldn't it? Back in the 1980's, being gay would get you socially ostracised and sometimes insulted in public, whilst being Conservative would get you social acceptance and congratulations on your snappy dress sense. And now...?
There's a comparison to be made here, I think...

Of course, I think Joe's comparison is as nonsensical as mine. But it's funny nevertheless.

Comments

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I've found from my experience that it is impossible to hate things that you understand, much that I would like to at times. It can fairly be said, i think, that hate is born of ignorance. Both groups express dismissive bile at specific other groups, but one is claiming to be unprejudiced - and thus more aware/educated and less ignorant than the other.
From this I would say that it is worse to be A than B, as A claims to be educated and tolerant but is still prejudiced, whilst B is just prejudiced without the claims of awareness. Group A compounds the sin.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, politics is a field in which it is possible to spend hours attempting to understand someone else and still not get there.

Though in the process I have learned that at least some caeruleophiles are not, in fact, baby-eating Nazi scum but instead merely have a touchingly naive faith in the ethics of elected officials.

I do not necessarily claim my boyfriend to be one of these.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why you have come to this conclusion when perhaps the most frequent theme in right-wing thinking is one of mistrust for the government and a desire to minimise the role of the state in the life of the individual.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, that's a theme that's never really come across. Especially as many people's defining 'right-wing' is Shrub across the pond, who quite clearly is a dangerous lunatic.

9/11 Card

[applez.livejournal.com]

Well...it can be argued that the 9/11/01 bombers knew the society they were attacking very well. They were in positions of relative priviledge, but that didn't change their hateful POV, or violent acts.

Re: 9/11 Card

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Fair point - perhaps it would be better to say that you can't hate anything that you have empathy towards (I'm reluctant to use the word sympathy). An expression of tolerance certainly implies a degree of empathy with that which is tolerated?

Re: 9/11 Card

[applez.livejournal.com]

Well said.